


Penumbra Autism Headcanons Ficlets

by AutisticJunoSteel



Category: The Penumbra Podcast
Genre: Autism, Autistic Juno Steel, Autistic Rita (The Penumbra Podcast), Autistic Story By An Autistic Author, Fluff, Other, Stim Toys, Stimming, autism headcanons
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-09
Updated: 2020-08-25
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:08:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25159744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AutisticJunoSteel/pseuds/AutisticJunoSteel
Summary: A series of unconnected short fics about various Penumbra Podcast characters being autistic. Characters/pairing, headcanons and a little note about what it's about in chapter titles.
Relationships: Peter Nureyev/Juno Steel, Rita & Juno Steel
Comments: 5
Kudos: 46





	1. Partially Nonverbal Autistic Juno, Jupeter

**Author's Note:**

> Shoutout to the Nureyevsonas discord for inspiring me, and helping with some details. Y'all're great!  
> This is somewhat based on my own experiences and the language I use to talk about myself, so I'm sorry if anything is inaccurate or out-of-date or anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was shorter than I'd like, but I couldn't think of much to add. Though, I might continue this eventually.

“You’ve been quiet for a bit, are you nonverbal?” Peter asks him. Juno nods. “Is everything alright, normally when you go nonverbal, it’s because you’re upset or got a sensory overload.” Juno grabs a piece of paper and a pencil to write something.  
“It happens when I get really emotional, good or bad, and I’m just really happy right now.”  
“Oh…” Peter smiles at Juno’s response. Juno writes something else.  
“Are you crying a little? You dork.”


	2. Rita Teaches Juno About Stimming, Autistic Rita & Juno

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rita wears a chew necklace one day, and Juno asks what it is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I now realize I accidentally added the tag "Autistic Rita" before actually posting this chapter. Whoops.   
> Links to all the stim toys mentioned here in the end notes.

“That’s a nice looking necklace, but why is it made of that plastic-y material?” Juno asks, seeing, Rita’s new necklace, a small pink necklace shaped like [thing].   
“You know what autism is, right, boss?”   
“Yes?” Juno certainly knows what autism is, he was diagnosed with it as a kid, but he has no idea as to how it could relate to necklaces. Though, he really doesn’t know much about autism, growing up, Sarah never talked with the twins about it, and they were too poor to afford anything like therapy. Now, Juno just didn’t bother learning.   
“Do you know what stimming is?”  
“No.”   
“It’s a thing people with stuff like autism do, I don’t really know how to describe it though. But, people stim in a lot of ways, like flapping their hands or repeating a certain word a whole bunch. And I like to chew on things! And this necklace is meant to be chewed on. It’s a type of stim toy.”   
“That’s a thing? Huh.” Juno begins to realize that a lot of stuff that he and Ben do might be stimming.  
“Yep!”   
“I’m autistic too, and I think I do that?”   
“Oh! That’s great, boss!”   
“What kinds of stim toys are there? How would I know what I’d like?”   
“I’ll buy you some different stuff, and you can see what you like!”   
\---  
It had been a few days, but Juno had mostly forgotten about their conversation, until a package arrived at the office. Juno eyed the box warily, he didn’t remember ordering anything, and didn’t recognize the return address. Rita walks in the door.   
“A box? Is it the stim toys?” She looks at the return address. “Yep! You should open it up, and see which ones you like!” Juno opens it, and pulls out the items inside.   
There’s a small squishy that looks like a rabbit, a chewy necklace that looks like a flower, some blue slime, a tube of liquid with glitter in it, a tangle that’s blue, pink and purple, a little scented stuffed animal, a little plastic animal with a spiky body, and some moldable sand and a small plush bag that looks like a rabbit to keep them all in.   
“I tried to get ones for all different types of stimming and textures! None are just sound, but some make sounds.”   
Juno grabs the first one. “What exactly do I do with this?”  
“You can squish it, and stretch and I think it might be scented?” Juno stretches and squishes it.   
“I think I like this one.” Juno picks up the necklace. “This is one of those chew ones, right?”  
“Yep!” Juno puts the cord around his neck, and puts the small flower in his mouth, and hesitantly bites on it. And then with a bit more excitement, bites it some more. “Seems like you like that one a lot, boss.” Juno grabs the slime and pokes it, but makes a face and pulls away.   
“Bad texture,” he says with the necklace still in his mouth. He picks up the glitter stick. “What’s this thing?”  
“It’s a glitter stick, you shake it and watch the glitter.” Juno does just that. “Ooh, pretty.”  
“It’s nice looking, but it doesn’t do much for me, you should take it, you seem to like it.” Juno picks up the tangle. “I fidget with this, right?”  
“Yep! I got one that’s just smooth, but some have little textured bits. It’s called a tangle, and you can tangle it up, or have it as a little loop.” Juno fidgets with it.   
“Ok, I like that one.” Juno picks up the stuffed animal. It’s a small rabbit that smells like roses.   
“I know stuffed animals can be a bit childish, but that one’s both a texture stim, and a smell stim!” Juno picks it up, smells it, and definitely doesn’t rub it’s soft fur against his face, despite whatever Rita may say. Juno then wordlessly hugs the little animal to his chest. “Aww.” He puts it away in his pocket after a second, and goes to pick up the next one. It’s a small plastic cat with a spiky body. Juno runs his fingers over it, and smiles a little. He picks up the next thing.   
“This just looks like sand? And that’s everywhere.”   
“You can mold it and stuff! It’s kinda like clay or putty.” Juno takes it out, and plays with it a bit.   
“Oh, yeah ok, I like that. I- Thanks. Really. This was great.”   
“It’s really no problem!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A few things here aren't exactly real things, but here's all the ones that are!  
>  squishy rabbit (it was specifically written as a mochi squishy)   
>  i pictured the flower either being the blue one of this or a rose   
>  the glitter stick   
> idk if a bi flag colored tangle exists but theres some here, heads up though that the sight might cause some sensory issues, its an eyestrain-y nightmare   
>  the spiky animal!   
>  the specific one doesnt exist, but the little bag was inspired by these   
> almost everything is from the same site bc i was looking at them today


	3. Autistic Juno, Rita helps him calm down during something like a panic attack

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Juno suddenly just feels bad. Thankfully, he has a friend to help him feel better. (Sorry if this summary is bad, words are hard outside of writing.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> long time no update.   
> tw for this chapter: description of what might be a panic attack, harmful stimming (mostly hitting his head against a wall)  
> this chapter is mostly how i feel right now. except i dont have anyone like rita. i dont know if whats happening here is a panic attack or what. just. sudden feeling bad. writing helped, but still feel bad.   
> sorry if i messed up with any words in this chapter, im having word problems.

Juno wanted to hit his head against the wall, or bang his arms into something. But he knew he probably shouldn’t, but he couldn’t figure out what else to do. So instead he just sits on his bed, arms wrapped around himself, shaking. He rocks back and forth a little, and that would be a good feeling, but the bedsprings are just too loud. He can feel his breath coming faster, what must be panic setting in. But why? His day was going fine. He almost feels overwhelmed, but it’s pretty quiet and dark in here.   
The door to his room bursts open. He winces at the light, and the following loud noise as Rita greets him.   
“Oh, sorry,” she says in a whisper. “Is everything alright?” Juno doesn’t know if he can speak right now, so he stays silent. “Oh, not talking, okay. Do you want me to stay or not? You can just shake your head, don’t gotta talk.”   
Juno shrugs. He tries to relax from where he’s bunched up in a ball, lying down, with his head against the wall. He starts banging it against the wall, out of the energy to try and think of anything better to do. A headache had already started to set in, and this definitely wasn’t helping.   
“Shoot,” she mutters under her breath. “You could hurt yourself, you should try and redirect that stim. Maybe just shake your head real quick or somethin’?” He tries that, but it makes his head so much worse, he winces and grabs his head. “Here, wait, I have an idea.” She grabs a stuffed animal, and hands it to him. “Try hitting yourself in the face with it? I really don’t think hitting yourself at all is a good idea, but it’s too soft to actually hurt.” Juno tries that, slowly, and then a little quicker. And again. And again. He stops for a second to give Rita a small thumbs up.   
He stops doing this not long after, and pulls Rita into a slightly shaky hug. He still feels bad, but having her here helped him feel a little better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thx 4 reading! im taking chapter suggestions btw.   
> but yeah writing this actually helped me feel not bad. i had trouble figuring out where to go when i remembered i like hitting myself in the face with my squishmallow. love those funky little guys.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! You can find me on Tumblr at rose-the-emo-cryptid.


End file.
